Eire Og 1-6
Clonmore 1-5
In a very close encounter at Brother Leo Park, Tullow, on Saturday, Eire Og just managed to squeeze past a gallant Clonmore team to reach the county minor football final against Palatine.
Eire Og opened the scoring within seconds of the start, with a lovely point from centre forward Paul McElligott after midfielder Eoghan Ruth had fielded the throw in. Clonmore responded immediately with a move up the right wing which saw James Doyle feed Shane Howard in the right corner. The Irish U-16 soccer international turned his man and sent over a perfect cross which was punched to the net by Clonmore’s tall full-forward Dara Kelly: 1-0 to 0-1 after one minute.
Eire Og pulled a point back in the fifth minute with a free from the left boot of Shane Corcoran but for the next ten minutes it was all Clonmore. Their tactic of half-backs and midfield feeding the inside forwards with low passes was working a treat as the dynamic duo of Shane Howard and Niall Humphries repeatedly terrorised the Eire Og defence with their pace and ball control. Firstly, Humphries got behind the red’s defence but his shot for a goal hit the angle off the post and crossbar. A minute later, the same player made amends with a neat point which was followed up by a couple of lovely points by Howard and PJ Byrne. Then another clever move by the Clonmore forwards put Howard through on the goalkeeper but his rising shot skimmed the crossbar for a point to put Clonmore ahead by 1-4 to 0-2 on fifteen minutes.
Five points ahead and playing good football, things were looking good for Clonmore but, amazingly, the Wicklow border men would only score one more point in the remaining 53 minutes of the game. And for this, credit must go to the Eire Og backroom team who wasted no time in replacing their two corner backs after ten minutes and had put on all of their five substitutes as they came out for the second half.
Up to this point, Eire Og were struggling to find their shooting boots and hit several bad wides from play and frees. Clonmore were disrupting the Eire Og attacking play with aggressive tackling but these tackles were often reckless and they conceded far too many frees. This allowed Eire Og to claw their way back into the game with three frees, two from Shane Corcoran and a lovely long range effort from Eoghan Ruth. Then on the stroke of half-time, they got a break when another free from the left wing from Ruth was firmly punched to the net by the towering Murtough Ware who had moved to full-forward: 1-5 to 1-4 in favour of the Eire Og.
Within a minute of the re-start, Clonmore had drawn level with a 20 metre free from PJ Byrne, 1-5 to 1-5, and from there to the end, the game was a dogfight. Clonmore, bidding to reach their first minor “A” final since 1994, were clearly a team hungry for success while reigning champions Eire Og were in no mood to relinquish their crown.
Instead of the measured passes of the first half though, Clonmore were now being pressurised into kicking sky scrapers to their inside forwards which left them feeding on scraps. With defences now on top, Eire Og centre back Paddy O’Brien was having a stormer as was his opposite number Shane Murphy. Unusually for Eire Og, they were now playing a long ball game with big Murtough Ware their target man but he was well marshalled by Clonmore full-back Michael Smith.
According as the second half progressed and the stalemate continued, it began to look like one score could be enough to win the game. Clonmore had a number of chances to forge ahead but they missed them all including three frees from around the 40 metre mark. However, in the 55th minute, Eire Og were gifted a golden opportunity when a Clonmore defender rashly picked the ball off the ground. Substitute Stephen Purcell made no mistake with a thirty yard free to score what proved to be the winning point. How ironic given all the physical exchanges that the winning point should result from an innocuous pick up.
With referee, Seamie Doyle, playing eight minutes of injury time, there was still time for Clonmore to create a couple more scoring opportunities – firstly Niall Humphries raced through the defence but instead of shooting himself, he unselfishly passed to a team-mate who shot wide. Then in the dying seconds, Willie Rooney did brilliantly to battle through several tackles and win a free about 40 metres out. Unfortunately in the heat of the moment, Rooney retaliated, the ball was thrown up and the last chance of an equaliser was lost.
Eire Og now march onto the final in search of their eleventh title in twelve years. They know they got out of jail in this game but possess the guile and physical strength to go all the way. Clonmore will rue this missed opportunity to reach a county final as they had opportunities to win but their lack of discipline cost them dearly. Still they are a very talented squad and with most of them underage again next year, they can look forward with optimism to 2009.
Teams:
Eire Og: Jamie Kavanagh, Darren Foley, Shane Mahon, Eric Fitzgibbon, Richard Mahon, Paddy O’Brien, Brendan Hennessy, Eoghan Ruth (0-1, free ), David Kenny, Tommy Wynne, Paul McElligott (0-1 ), Murtough Ware (1-0 ), Shane Corcoran (0-3, frees ), Cian O’Brien, Leigh Callinan. Subs: Ian Kenneally, Luke Hennessy, Stephen Purcell (0-1, free ), Cian Conroy, Darren Foley.
Clonmore: Mark Hennessy, Martin Byrne, Michael Smith, Paddy Gahan, James Doyle, Shane Murphy, Stephen Doyle, Willie Rooney, Michael Murray, PJ Byrne (0-2, 1 free ), Enda McGrath, Chris Smith, Shane Howard (0-2 ), Dara Kelly (1-0 ), Niall Humphries (0-1 ). Substitute: Neil Curran.
Referee: Seamus Doyle.
